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Wednesday, 2 June 2010

IN BRIDGE RISKS NEED TO BE INSURED AGAINST......( Article by Johnny Supremo )

Whatever contract you are in consider the risks, which nasty distribution, layout............. not to mention defenders ......might create for you. The whole concept of safety play is to identify and adopt a line of play that minimises the risks which could scupper the contract, by attempting to guard against such risks. This in essence is what insurance is all about. Skillful defenders will create risks, which need to be spotted straightaway..... and neutralised. Take this hand for example my novice partner botched up. He was declarer in 5D, with no opposition bidding, and his LHO led the queen of hearts at trick 1. My hand was: Kx ....Axxx.....J9x.....Axxx, which fitted extremely well with his QJxx ......Kx....KQ10xxxx....(void ).

At first glance declarer could see 11 easy tricks ( 2S, 2H, 6D, 1C ), losing only to both red Aces. Not surprisingly, complacency and impulsiveness both took hold. At trick one he took the heart in hand with the King. Next came the king of diamonds to take out trumps, which was taken by his LHO with her stiff Ace......only to switch to a second heart which was ruffed by her partner. Then the Ace of spades was cashed for the setting trick !

Bemoaning the fact that hearts split 6-1 received little sympathy from me. Why ? ....Well, there was an obvious case for taking out some insurance that was on offer....even against this very small risk. All declarer had to do was to take the heart trick in dummy with the Ace, and then play the Ace of clubs pitching the embarrassing and unnecessary King of spades. Then when diamonds are played out next, the LHO on winning with the Ace cannot give her partner a successful ruff ( since an over-ruff would follow ). As before 11 tricks are easily there, courtesy of 2S, 1H, 1C, 6D plus one spade ruff with dummy's third trump.

And the moral of this story is simple : look to guard against risks, no matter how small, by taking out whatever insurance is on offer.

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Apart from being a keen political observer, I'm an unrecognised bridge genius who is forever thwarted by hapless clueless bumbledogs. Their bungled attempts to bid and play the cards properly never fail to stick one across me, such is the absurd injustice of this peculiar game.